OUR REVIEW OF THREE SPECIAL FUNDS, one revolving fund, and one ($362 Million) trust fund of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs found one special fund no longer serves its original purpose and should be closed.

Section 23-12, Hawai‘i Revised Statutes, requires the Auditor to review all existing special, revolving, and trust funds every five years. Reviews are scheduled so that each department’s funds are reviewed once every five years. Although not mandated by statute, we included trust accounts as part of our review; however, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs did not have any trust accounts during our review period. This is our fifth review of the revolving funds, trust funds and trust accounts of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. It is our first review of the special funds of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

We used criteria developed by the Legislature and by our office based on public finance and accounting literature. For each fund, we present a five-year financial summary, the purpose of the fund, and conclusions about its use. We did not audit the financial data which is provided for informational purposes. We do not present conclusions about the effectiveness of the program or their management, or whether the program should be continued.

Reporting shortfall

WE ALSO NOTED that the Office of Hawaiian Affairs did not file statutorily required reports for non-general funds and for administratively created funds. Accurate and complete reporting, as well as timely closing of funds, will greatly improve the Legislature’s oversight of these funds.

Agency response

WE TRANSMITTED A DRAFT of this review to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs generally agreed with our review and will take appropriate action to ensure compliance with reporting requirements.